The Dying Gaul and the Ludovisi Gaul 

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...and his wife, as his possession, is destroyed along with him.

@@ginacrusco234 The Gauls were actually known (and scorned by the Romans) for having relative gender equality in their society. Women could own property and voice cause for divorce, and in recent years there's been academic conversation that the Gaulish religious order which governed their society, the Druids, might have had both male and female members. Sure, a modern take could be that he's destroying her. But remember that if their enemies took her, she would have been a 'barbarian' slave thrown a the mercy of a society where fathers could legally murder their daughters if they so choose (Rome). Imagine what they might do to the women of their conquered enemies. Given that choice, for all we know she would have asked him to kill her, so she could die free and by the hand of someone who loved her. Also keep in mind that this is sculpture was made by a society which also didn't have a favorable view of women and wives (Ancient Greece). I'm willing to bet if Gaulish hands had created that sculpture, it would have a much different composition and body language present. You didn't specify which culture you were commenting on, but I thought it worth pointing out the distinction on behalf of the Gauls as it's not something that's really discussed.

@@ginacrusco234or possibly he’d rather not allow her to be enslaved by the Romans.

Well the raid is a classics franchise

There are statements around many of monuments, and human representations derived from ancient antiquities, they believed it around the "Gods and Heroes" addressed to the Greece Cultural Heritage. I love all the dramatic subjects showed up in those statues 👏👏👏 thank you Smarthistory!

Not really, they're classical gods of the Greeks and Romans, the Gaul was not one of their worshipers.

@@Catubrannos Plus the Hellenistic period, did not remove the humanism of classical Greek works. Rather it moved from the idealistic form to the display of emotions. Gods were not the focus.

I wish torcs were more well known! I own two, and I wear one to work and around town every day

There's a lot of cheap versions out there, but if you can find a quality artist, they look and feel awesome to wear. My current torc is made out of a pretty thick wire and has a noticeable weight when wear it--it's not uncomfortable, it just feels really sturdy and grounding (Which also makes it less to drift off center from your collarbones). You can definitely see why they would be worn as status symbols in a warrior society.

@@TheWizardYeof Right? They're awesome! But a lot of people are curious and ask me about my torc, which gives a good opportunity to share the good word. Who knows, if enough of us weirdos wear them loud and proud, maybe they'll get picked up by more folks some day. I've got two I own as well. One that's more sleek that can just slip under my shirt collar on days I feel like being subtle--and a thick-wired brass one that is kind of hard to ignore, haha. I love the weight of it though, like I mentioned in my above comment, there's a real presence I can feel wearing it, and can totally see why it was worn as a sign of distinguishment.

I would think the former, it’s a mildly contentious subject as to whether or not they fought naked, but I think it’s far from unlikely.

it has a greek origin, Celts or Gauls invaded Asia Minor and established kingdoms in Galatia, looting and pillaging surrounding Hellinistic Greek kingdoms, Pergamon being one of the richest. When one of Pergamon's king definatily beat the Galatians ( as these Celts got called) he erected this monument and infused it wth a kind of "Noble Savagery" The Romans would not do that, because to them the Gauls were the ancient threath to early Rome, they were barbaric savages and Italy north of the Arno and Rubicon was not considered proper Italia at all but Gallia this side of the Alpes. The only value a Gaul had to them was as a slave or a gladiator. It was not the noble savage they admired, it was the Greek art. They collected it like the rich collect Rembrands, not because they like it that much, but because "it's a Rembrand"

Yes, the Romans showed respect to their Germanic or Celtic enemies.

@@kamion53 You are wrong. Romans also showed respect to the Gauls and their warrior culture. The Romans also wrote many flattering things about Hannibal who almost destroyed Rome.

@@kamion53 It's so complicated. Where can I find this historical document?

We have works from some, though not all of those sites. We are starting to organized by location, have a look here: smarthistory.org/locations/

it's a good question... you don't often see Greek/Roman sculptures in natural history museums and the galleries for non-Greek/Roman cultures in famous art museums sometimes aren't as dignified as those for classical sculptures but the MET for instance seems pretty fair: only the central hall for classical art is fancy (and iconic), the rest of the rooms are pretty plain. In fact, it's the exhibits for the art of other cultures which are getting the fanciest upgrades.

celtic people existed in anatolia (turkey) and they probably were in war with greeks, celtic is a culture, all celts used a torc around their neck, in anatolia, in britain or in gaul (france) that's why roman used this sculpture to represent the gauls

It is an interesting, challenging, exercise to try and imagine them in a unified grouping.

Bases were commonly added to ancient sculpture in the early modern era.

I understand, but was the base added to this specific statue? Because the sword is definitely 15th century and I can find nothing about it, as if no one has ever noticed.

The sources you'd need to refer to are in monographs and academic journals. I'd start with Jstor. I do seem to remember that the base is an addition.

I’ll read up on that, thank you.

The base was added in the 17th century which means the shield and trumpets are likely not part of the original either. Which makes sense, he's the only one of the Pergamene group that has a torc which marks him out as of higher status than the rest of them.